Kevin Nolan's Match Report: Charlton v Crystal Palace (14/09/2012)

Charlton 0 Crystal Palace 1 (Dikgacoi 51).

Maintaining his urbane and affable persona in the aftermath of defeat by bitter rivals Crystal Palace, a smiling Chris Powell was the very model of diplomacy in masking his disappointment. What you saw was what you got – but not what he felt.

Charlton’s fiercely competitive boss is clearly no believer in that guff spouted by Rudyard Kipling about treating triumph and disaster as peas from the same pod. For Powell-and all football managers- winning is everything, losing a festering heap of nothing. The draw offers a face-saving third outcome, of course, one overlooked by Kipling and one which, but for an ill-judged first half offside flag, would have eased Powell’s mind somewhat.

Palace edged an uneventful opening half hour, while neglecting the importance of turnng their marginal control into tangible reward. They were the better side, though, with the Addicks’ prospects hardly improved by the loss, on 22 minutes, of foot injury victim Rhoys Wiggins. Lawrie Wilson replaced him, with Chris Solly switching to left back, where he inherited from Wiggins the unenviable task of subduing Palace’s brilliant right winger Wilfried Zaha. Charlton’s nuggety defender made a fair fist of it.

In the early going, the visitors had gone close through Yannick Bolasie, who fired Zaha’s cute cutback wastefully over the bar, then even closer when Leon Cort hacked Owen Garvan’s unconvincing effort off the line, again from Zaha’s intelligent probing; Bolasie was equally off target after cutting inside Wilson.

At the other end, Bradley Wright-Phillips came within straining inches of converting Bradley Pritchard’s dipping cross at the far post before, just past the half hour, becoming the centre of a controversy which rubbed salt into Powell’s painfully concealed irritation.

Cynically fouled by Mile Jedinak as he escaped the Australian’s attentions dangerously close to goal, Wright-Phillips appeared to have delivered the perfect riposte moments later. Losing his marker as Cort nodded Wilson’s flighted free kick back from the far post, the slim marksman buried an emphatic header past Julian Speroni; his celebrations were instantly stifled by an offside verdict which must charitably be excused as an honest mistake. TV replays clarified later that Cort was indisputably onside, as was Wright-Phillips, lent legitimacy by the prone figure of Darcy Blake, who had lost his footing and lay clearly goalside of the “scorer” as Cort headed forward and the striker made his move.

Calm and collected, Powell graciously accepted the apology of the offending official but quietly made the point that, at 1-0, the direction of this important game would have been altered. His equally youthful opposite number, Dougie Freedman, tentatively agreed but just as quietly observed that “some you get, some you don’t.” With Yann Kermorgant’s contentiously disallowed effort against Hull City still fresh in his memory, Powell would be forgiven for wondering whether he had somehow missed a turn. Anyway, Freeman got this one and, for a second time, Powell didn’t. That’s just how it’s going for Charlton at the moment.

Relieved by the escape, the Eagles got on top. Zaha drove wide, then Bolasie dragged a low shot across goal. Johnnie Jackson’s free kick provided Speroni with a little exercise before the interval but the momentum was with the confident visitors. Shortly after the break, they grabbed the lead their superiority had been threatening.

A spate of right wing corners, swung in wickedly by Garvan, proved Charlton’s undoing. The latest of them was headed back deliberately by Damien Delaney, skilfully chest-controlled by Kagisho Dikgacoi and lashed violently past Ben Hamer. Once again, though for different reasons, the celebrations behind the away goal were mighty.

Powell responded by introducing Ricardo Fuller for a strangely muted Jackson, with the newcomer making an immediate impact. Meeting Wilson’s precisely angled pass from the right byline, Fuller blazed an acceptable chance wide. He was wayward again when heading Solly’s cross past the left post, before sending a wildly deflected drive against the bar, with Speroni grasping at air. As the Addicks desperately tightened the screw, Palace wilted as Forest had done in similar circumstances two weeks ago.

Once again, unhappily, the Addicks came up short, certainly through no fault of Hamer’s. Joining the onslaught as Dale Stephens prepared a last gasp corner from the left, the keeper met the inswinger with a firm header, which beat Speroni but not Garvan, who capped an influential contribution by alertly clearing off the line. The never-say-die Hamer was far from finished, sending the rebound over the bar with an ambitious, overhead effort, adding to the frustration piled on over 18,00 of the fans inside The Valley. This defeat was a disaster and if Rudyard Kipling was still around, most of them would have been happy to explain why. Bloody poets. Never in touch with real life. Get down the football, mate. Then you might know what you’re talking about.

Charlton: Hamer, Solly, Cort, Morrison, Wiggins (Wilson 22), Pritchard (Green 77), Stephens, Hollands, Jackson (Fuller 58), Wright-Phillips, Kermorgant. Not used: Button, Dervite, Kerkar, Smith. Booked: Wilson, Stephens.

Crystal Palace: Speroni, Blake, Ramage, Delaney, Parr, Dikgacoi, Jedinak, Zaha (Ward 90), Garvan, Bolasie (Williams 74), Murray (Wilbraham 87). Not used: Price, Moxey, Moritz, Goodwillie. Booked: Jedinak, Bolasie, Murray.

Referee: A. Bates. Att: 21,730.

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